Contentment
by GEORGIA THE VELOCIRAPTOR
Summary: This story starts with events happening before Lily and James dated in Hogwarts and follows their lives since then.
1. Chapter 1

_**Stirring in my sleep, I felt a hand on my chest, I opened my eyes to find a small redhead lying next to me, lightly snoring. This is how I always dreamt of waking, all throughout my Hogwart's years – by the feeling of Lily, MY Lily, nestled into my side, the smell of her shampoo under my nose. I sighed with bliss as Lily's eyelashes fluttered open.**_

_**'Morning James.' She said, stifling a yawn.**_

_**'Good morning Sleeping Beauty. How was your night?'**_

_**'Great, but I'm starvin-**_ OI GET UP PRONGS!' _**Lily suddenly shouted, sounding exactly like Sirius. **_'OR WE'LL BE LATE FOR BREAKFAST!'

'I fancy pancakes this morning, what about you, Prongs?'_** Lily said, continually switching voices to match those of my room mates, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.**_

'Eggs for me please love' I said aloud whilst smiling in my sleep.

I opened my eyes to find a curious Sirius and Remus looming over my bed, unknowingly shattering my fantasy life.

'You called Moony LOVE...' Sirius said with a look of pure shock etched on his face.

'you had that dream again, didn't you, Prongs?' Moony said matter of factly, yet his eyes still questioning. I nodded then bowed my head.

'Prongs and Evans, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-mmff!' Sirius started to sing before I shoved my pillow in his face, the force of it, sending him tumbling backwards off my bed.

I quickly showered and changed into my school robes, before wandering downstairs to the Common Room, where all three of my room mates, Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail were waiting for me. As we made our way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, it was clear I would not be getting my eggs cooked a-la-Lily today, I felt my heart drooping.

'So, when are you gonna ask her out then, Prongs?' asked Wormtail after I had recounted my dream for my fellow Marauders, who seemed to find it hilarious.

'Idiot, he's asked her out everyday since fourth year.' Sirius replied indignantly.

'And one of these days, she's gonna say yes' I responded.

'Lily told you before, she's not going to say yes until you 'deflate your head', James' Moony said, not looking up from his Arithmancy book. I pondered long and hard over this statement, and replied with a simple 'How?'

'It's really up to you, Prongs' Lupin said, licking his thumb and turning the page.

'I know! I'll cover all the mirrors in our dormitory!' I cried.

'WOAH, WOAH, WOAH, Let's not get hysterical!' Said Sirius, his hands out in front of him 'Don't you think that's a bit drastic?'

'No Pads, I think it might be just what you, I mean **I** need.'

Padfoot huffed and kicked the table leg, but when we returned to our dorm, he made no move to stop me casting a spell to make the mirrors completely opaque.

'Now we've got the mirrors covered, what's next?' Peter asked, turning to look up at Moony.

'So begins our Prongs-Ego-Knocking quest' Sirius announced in a phoney, and might I say corny, commentator voice. 'Now onto phase two..'

'Right Prongs, I'll say a word and you tell me the first word that comes to mind.' Said Padfoot. 'Lily'

'Pretty'

'Snape'

'Greasy git'

'Hey, that's not one word!'

'Shut up, Peter!'

'Stupid game anyway' Peter grumbled.

'Ego'

'Eggo'

'What?'

'Like the waffles?'

'Oh, ok.'

'Mirror'

'Shiny'

'Quidditch'

'Awesome'

'Transfiguration'

'Great'

'Furry'

'Moony'

'Hey!'

'No offence, Moony'

'Time?'

'12:05'

'Lunch'

'Delicious'

'Shall we?'

'We shall.'

'Hey where are you guys going?' Peter called after us.

On our way to Potions, we were walking behind Evans, who was precariously balancing a stack of books and a set off brass scales on her cauldron.

'Now's your chance, Prongs' Said Sirius. I scurried up to Evans.

'Lily.'

'What do you want, Potter?

'I just came to see if you wanted my help to carry some of your stuff' I said, catching her scales when they toppled off of the Leaning Tower of Lily. 'You look like you need it.' Lily looked surprised.

'Oh! Well, if you're offering, Could you take my scales then? Thanks Potter, Uh, I mean, James, that's really kind of you.'

'No worries Lily, it's my pleasure'

On my way out of the Common Room that evening, I happened to over hear Lily talking with her friend Marlene. Well, to be perfectly honest I was under the invisibility cloak at the time, and kind of stalking them. But it's not really eavesdropping if it's about me, is it? I didn't really catch much, but what I did hear practically stopped my heart;

'So, Mary saw you walking with James Potter to Potions this morning, what happened there? I thought you hated him?'

'I did. But he was different this morning, really chivalrous, offering to carry my scales like that.'

'Maybe he's not so bad after all?'

'Maybe so.'

I did a little dance in my head and ran back to the Common Room to tell the others.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**JPOV**

Urgh, I need to stop eating so much before I go to bed, because, once again, I woke up in the middle of the night. I checked my watch after grabbing my glasses from the nightstand, 00:03. I decided to stroll down to the Common Room, grabbing a blanket on the way to combat the chilly night air, to see if anyone had left out any card games or sweets, I AM Head Boy after all, and in my defence, I was dying from lack of sugar.

When I got down to the Common Room, however, I was surprised to see someone hunched over at a table on the other side of the room. I wrapped the blanket around myself tighter and went to go and investigate, in a display of true Gryffindor courage. You wouldn't believe who it was - Lily Evans! Lily Evans, Head girl, straight O (for outstanding) student and model pupil, in the Common Room at gone midnight on a school night! On closer inspection, Lily was fast asleep on her Muggle Studies textbook, (why she takes that class, I have no idea considering she's already an expert on all things Muggle). Lily's arm was covered in goosebumps and she shivered slightly everytime she breathed out, a slight frown on her face as she slept. It broke my heart to see My Lily like this, so I shut the window above her head, carefully eased the books from under her head and replacing them with a cushion from one of the nearby Common Room armchairs. I then draped my blanket over her shoulders(I knew I brought it down with me for a good reason!) and grabbed a spare bit of parchment from the table to write Lily a note, I left it beside her head, snuck a gentle kiss on her forehead and headed up to bed. I climbed into my four poster and breathed a happy sigh - I am completely in love with Lily Evans.

**OPOV**

When Lily woke up the next morning, she immediately checked her watch; 05:24, excellent, just enough time to sneak back up to her dormitory and act like she'd been there all night,

It wasn't uncommon for Lily to fall asleep whilst doing her homework, but it had been comfier than usual last night, and a heck of a lot warmer too. Lily was surprised to find that she had infact been sleeping on a cushion with a blanket. She scanned the room, and on finding no-one who could have provided the added comfort, turned back to shove all her books in her rucksack.

However, something caught Lily's eye. There, lying on her Divination book was a hastily scrawled note addressed to her. It read :

_**Lily,**_

_**I understand that you love lessons and you strive to maintain your perfect grades, but I think you're overworking yourself. I know I haven't always been the most trustworthy person, but if I say something's wrong, something's wrong.**_

_**Anyway, I left your books on the table next to you and left you the cushion and my blanket - your neck will thank me later, plus you were really cold and it was no skin off my back.**_

_**I apologise for borrowing your quill and parchment to write this note, I just didn't want you to get freaked out when you woke up. **_('too late for that' Lily muttered to herself_) __**I may also have perused your Muggle Studies book. I find this concept of 'Manegtism' fascinating, it reminds me of Accio. **_(Lily chuckled softly at James' spelling mistake.)

_**Anyway, sweet dreams Lils,**_

_**Love James**_

'Oh James.' Lily whispered. As much as she hated to admit it, the 'Love James' made Lily's heart flutter.


	3. Chapter 3

**James = underlined**

_**Lily = italics**_

**Lily,**

**Have you been listening to Slughorn? I don't get what we're meant to do. .**

**James.**

_**Potter,**_

_**You're sat right next to Remus, why did you have to levitate a note one desk in front**_

_**of you to ask me this when you could've asked him, or me IN PERSON.**_

_**Lily.**_

**Lily,**

**Moony wont let me copy off his notes anymore because I get them covered in**

**butterbeer apparently. ¬ ¬**

**James**

_**Potter,**_

_**That was YOU? I knew Remus wasn't that sloppy, I was talking to him the other day and**_

_**he said - HEY POTTER! DON'T THROW STUFF AT MY HEAD, YOU CAN READ IT**_

_**ONCE I'M FINISHED, STOP PEERING OVER MY SHOULDER!**_

_**ARGH**_

_**Lily**_

**Lils!**

**You talk to Remus? :O :O :O**

**James**

_**Potter!**_

_**Why ever not?**_

_**Lily.**_

_**P.S. My name is 'Lily' not 'Lils'**_

**Lily (better than 'Evans' :p)**

**Because you don't talk to me!**

**'Potter'**

_**Fine, James,**_

_**The only reason I don't talk to you is because you are an arrogant toerag who makes**_

_**Sniv- Severus' life difficult.**_

_**Lily :(**_

**Lily,**

**YOU ALMOST SAID SNIVELLUS! I CAN READ IT UNDER THAT SCRIBBLE!**

**HAH!**

**James.**

_**James,**_

_**I did not, your eyes are playing tricks on you. You've probably been inhaling too much of**_

_**that Sleeping Potion.**_

_**Lily**_

**Lily,**

**This is a Sleeping Potion? So THAT'S what we're doing!**

**I find it very encouraging that you could've told me that at the start of this note passing**

**and you didn't, instead you stayed here and talked to me until the end of the lesson ;)**

**James**

Lily was astounded, how could she not have noticed the time slipping by? Students had

begun packing away their cauldrons around her and she was sat down note passing with

POTTER of all people. Sure, she got her potion perfectly right, Potions was a talent of hers,

she didn't want to disappoint Slughorn, he had so much faith in her, but that was not the point.

Is it possible she could be developing feelings for Potter? The notes, the smiles and winks

when he caught her eye while she was trying to look at him discreetly,

the cute little drawings on her notes, (not that she'd ever admit to them being cute) and the

blanket he'd given her the other night. Also, he really did have the most wonderful smile...

ARGH! IT WAS TRUE! Lily had fallen for the person she hated the most in the world!

How could she let this happen? Lily stormed out of class in a blur of red hair.


	4. Chapter 4

The students of Hogwarts ran around the grounds, girls screaming about their hair and ducking for shelter, the boys stomping about in puddles and being subject to Filch's wrath for spreading their mud aroung his nice clean castle. The rain was falling thick and fast and quickly drenching all in its path. James was staring out of the library window, his head in his hands, watching Lily walking through the grounds, she wasn't squealing or screeching like the other girls, nor running for shelter, in fact, she appeared to be enjoying it, and yes, James saw it with his own eyes, that was unmistakeably an impromptu twirl! James learnt more and more about this girl everyday, all of which fascinating in his opinion, from her favourite song to what colour socks she was wearing that day - grey, but that's not important. One of these days, James vowed, I'm going to tell this girl just how fascinating she is, he imagined she'd like that, she likes all things fascinating.

Where Lily going anyway? She'd walked right past Hagrid's hut, past the lake and straight to the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. Whoa, Lily Evans? Doing something FORBIDDEN? James had to investigate this new occurence, after all, he was a prefect, plus the forest is dangerous, what kind of gentleman would he be, letting her waltz into the forest unescorted? A terrible one, that's for sure. James leapt up from his seat by the window, with perhaps a bit too much vigour, earning him a glare from Madam Pince. He stopped at the table at which his fellow Marauders were seated, two of which, bored from studying, had fallen asleep.

'Moony, when Pads and Wormtail wake up, tell them I've gone investigating something.'

'Investigating WHAT exactly?' Moony raised his eyebrows.

'Nothing important.'

'You want to take my umbrella?'

'Nahh, thanks though.' James wasn't going to take an umbrella, If Lily went without one that

what sort of light would it put him in? Or, he could offer it to her, like a gentleman, then she'd love him for sure, women love gentlemen!

'On second thoughts, why not? Thanks again Moony' James called the last part whilst sprinting from the library. Meanwhile, Madam Pince was yelling at him for running in the library, and several Ravenclaws' were shooting death glares at his departing back.

'LILY! Lils! I brought you a- WHOA is that a rope swing? That's so cool!'

Lily jumped and swerved around. 'Huh? Oh it's just you Potter, don't sneak up on me like that! I thought you were McGonagall.'

'Aw c'mon, even if I WAS McGonagall, she'd let you off lightly, she practically loves you.'

'I think you'll find it's YOU she loves Potter, You're best at Transfiguration, and as much as she hates the stupid pranks you and your friends play on the Slytherin's, she always lets you off lightly.'

'Nonsense, I've had more detentions than anyone in school.'

'That's because she doesn't want to show favouritism, it's obvious she loves you though.'

'Can't blame her' James grinned. To his surprise Lily actually laughed at one of his jokes, for the first time in the history of forever.

'So when did you set up this swing?' James asked, curiosity evident in his tone of voice.

'A few hours after the Levicorpus incident, when Severus called me a - I don't want to say it.'

'You can call him Snivellus like the rest of us, Lils, he deserves it more than anybody.'

'I'm not going to stoop to that level.'

'thanks..' muttered James, not quite meeting Lily's eyes.

'Sorry, but it's just not what I'd do.'

'So, why did you set up this swing here anyway?'

'I would come out here and read when I was upset, and I thought putting a swing up would be fun, I used to love swings, well, I used to love jumping OFF of swings, it made me feel free.' She never thought she'd tell that to anybody, why was James Potter making her spill all her secrets?

'Did you come out here today because you were upset?'

'No, just to read.'

'... Then where's your book?'

Urgh! Lily thought, how could she forget the book, sometimes she was so stupid.

'I.. came out here to think.'

'Penny for your thoughts?'

'I think I like someone, but I can't tell them, not yet anyway.'

Why was she telling him all of this? One look into those hazel eyes and she was putty in his hands. Lily hit herself mentally.

Meanwhile James was gutted, his heart sank and his next few words were barely audible, Lily had to strain to hear them.

'I know how you feel' James said, staring out onto the lake, having just sat on the floor near Lily's feet.

Lily looked down at her hands clasped in her lap and dropped them by her sides, still sitting on the swing.

James took her hand

'It's okay Lils, soon the day will come when you can tell him, and he'd be the luckiest man alive,

no-one could refuse, not unless he's mentally deficient, or she, I'm not prejudice.' He said, giving her hand a gentle

squeeze and smiling, actually SMILING not smirking for once, he had a really nice smile Lily thought to herself.

Lily's heart skipped a beat and she almost forgot how to breathe, how could James Potter make her feel this way.

Maybe he'd changed?'

'Wanna push?'

'Go on then' Lily giggled.

James was surprisingly strong and pushed Lily on the swing so high that the tips of her shoes brushed the leaves on the tree Lily had attached the swing to, by magic of course, climbing was something Lily was not going to attempt in a skirt. Ever. James then climbed onto the back of the swing, with his feet either side of the rope.

'This was actually an amazing idea Lily.'

'Please don't tell anyone it's here, James.'

'You have my word as a Marauder. You know Lils, you can call me Prongs, that's what the other three do.'

'Why do they call you Prongs?'

'uhh..' C'mon James! think of an excuse! James' brain practically screamed at him. 'Because my patronus is a stag, you know, antlers?' James said with his hands raised to his head in a pathetic attempt at antlers, before stopping himself from falling backwards, letting go of the swing was a bad idea.

After about an hour of swinging and talking about whatever came their minds (Lily was amazed by the lack of awkward silences), James checked his watch and leapt of the swing.

'It's six o'clock! How can it be six o'clock? The others will be wondering where I am, I've gotta run Lils, it was nice hanging out this afternoon.'

It WAS nice, Lily thought, Nicer than she thought it would be. It wasn't until James had sprinted off in the direction of the castle that Lily realised he'd left his umbrella behind.

'James! Your umbrella!' Lily shouted,

'Keep it!'

Lily was grateful for the umbrella, as the rain came rushing down, almost peeling off the label reading 'Property of Remus J Lupin'. Lily read it and chuckled, walking off towards the castle, all the while thinking of James.

At the feast that night, nobody could get a word through to James, he was staring into space, not touching anything on his plate, which was unlike him, he usually wolfed down his food without it even touching the sides of his mouth.

So James, where's my umbrella then?' Remus was met with a blank look, what HAD he done with Moony's umbrella? Oh yes, Lily had it. Ah Lily, and James was dead to the world again.

Remus turned to Sirius who was sat on his other side. 'Remind me never to lend him anything ever again.'


	5. Chapter 5

**Right, this is quickly becoming my favourite way to write, sat on a train with my headphones in and a bottle of coke. Anyway, I'm on a writing hype at the moment because I'm having a competition with Frosties890 on the best LilyxJames story, judging by the amount of positive reviews each story recieves which will be counted on completion. So, if you're Team VELOCIRAPTOR and you like the story, please review! Reviews are like petrol, the more I get, the faster I write. :D**

**RAWR**

**Georgia xxx**

**Disclaimer for all chapters so far: If it sounds even vaguely close to something that already exists, I don't own it :D**

Lily stared down at the scene before her, Hogwarts looked more like a picture from a Christmas card than a musty old castle with damp old walls and a pestering poltergeist. Speaking of Peeves, he was currently hosting the largest snowball fight in Hogwarts' history, assisted by his second-in-command and his sidekicks (none other than James Potter and his fellow 'Marauders' as they called themselves) waging war on Mrs Norris and Slytherin's alike.

Suddenly, something came flying through Lily's dormitory window, she ducked - fearing cold, wet snow trickling down the neck of her robes (or indeed, one of Peeve's speciality snowballs which involved a rock covered with snow, launched at the back of the head and guaranteed to give anyone concussion: Peeves didn't miss).

Lily was surprised to find out that, after coaxing it down from the curtain hanging on her roomate Alice's bed, the speeding object launched at her was actually a brightly coloured envelope with 'Season's Greetings' written in gold italics in the bottom right corner. Lily looked out the window to find out who the sender of this holiday missile was. Unsurprisingly, James, who caught Lily's gaze and cheerily waved, was looking up at Lily, before he was hit in the back of the neck with a snowball. Lily laughed as James pulled a face and swerved around to find Sirius 'Padfoot' Black standing behind him, his hands behind his back, rocking backwards and forwards on his heels and whistling merrily, purposefully averting his view from his snow covererd, infuriated pal. Sirius then saw the expression on James's face and did the wise thing of running away through the snow

Lily decided the best thing to do would be to put on her scarf, hat and gloves and join in the fun, it WAS the Christmas holidays after all.

So Lily put James's card under her pillow to be read later that night, when it actually became Christmas, and went to join her fellow Gryffindors on what would rapidly become a _very_ white christmas. It was positive euphoria throwing a snowball at Snape, before seeing the expression on his face when he discovered it was infact LILY who threw it.

That night Lily, alone in her dormitory (all her roomates had gone home for the holidays) reached under her pillow and traced James's handwriting on the envelope, teasing open the flap with her Thumb. As if he had read Lily's thoughts, the card was a picture of Hogwart's, covered with a blanket of snow from the rolling hills of Scotland in the background to the highest turret on Gryffindor Tower. Lily opened the card and hundreds upon thousands of pieces of red and gold confetti fell out of it onto her lap, winking in the candlelight. The card read:

_Lils,_

_Happy Christmas! _**(Lily read 'Harry Christmas'. **_**Hmm Harry**_, **she thought to herself, **_**That's a nice name... Harry Potter, that just works. **_**Lily snapped out of her reverie, what had that been all about?)**

_I know the usual term is 'Merry Christmas' but that seemed a bit too ordinary._

_Have a good one!_

_Prongs. (James or 'Potter' to you)_

Lily admired James's inky little drawing of her swing on the letter S in his nickname for her. It really was shaping up to be a very Happy Christmas. Lily smiled to herself.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey ho! A new chapter a few hours after the fifth one, aren't you lucky? Anywho, enjoy and review! **

**RAWR**

**Georgia xxx**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill, if you recognise it, I don't own it.**

The Christmas holidays were over and all the students returned to Hogwarts with colds and expanses of new books, owls, quills and Zonko products from their Christmas presents.

The holidays were over far too quickly for James' liking, he preferred the peace and quiet and lack of jogging and jostling in the corridors between classes, that was the one thing James was positively dreading, classes. Wasn't it bad enough he was forced by his parents to stay at school for the Christmas holidays? ( They were going skiing in The Alps without him) but now he had to do MORE school time and no peace and free days to go and find Lily and talk to her. So he hadn't QUITE gotten round to asking her out since he started trying to be less arrogant, that didn't mean he was never going to. Besides, he was a chivalrous gentleman now, almost, just like she wanted.

Walking down the spiral staircase leading down from the Astronomy Tower that night, dragging his feet along the ground, James vowed that if he had to ask Lily out, he would have to do it in a private place, which would be a problem considering he'd not seen her walk alone since the term started, she was always surrounded by her giggling entourage. Finally he realised, what about her swing? SURELY she'd get tired of her giggling deciples soon and then come to her very own quiet place, even though it was January and cold? Probably, the bitter wind and the sting of rain never stopped her before, wasn't it raining the first time he found her there? It was settled, James would wait until a time he saw her going to the tree and then her would ask her out.

But what would he say? A simple 'Will you go out with me, Lily?' Wouldn't suffice, not with his new found gentlemanliness. 'Lilyflower, I would be honoured if you would consider accompanying me to Hogsmeade sometime in future, I'll pay of course.' No, no, too formal, but the nickname was good he thought, one of his inspired ideas. He remembered telling Lily about his new nickname, what had she said again? Ah yes, it was 'sweet'. But a girl couldn't survive on just sweet, his mother had told him from a young age, they need someone to argue with, those who back down are too spineless, hate is as passionate and fierce as love, that's why they're so easily confused.

James was so lost in thought that he didn't realise he was walking straight down to the swing itself. James stopped, it's gone midnight on a school night, she wouldn't be there. However, James carried on going and sat down on the swing as he looked over the lake, it was calm and peaceful and the Giant Squid had gone to sleep wherever it is in that large expanse of water he lived in.

January, now that it's snowy weather had more or less passed, was bringing almost as much rain as there was in late November, when Lily and James had their first 'date' (So James liked to think) down here by this very swing near the very lake that James was staring at now. If Lily or the rest of the Marauders could see him now, James thought, they'd laugh, they didn't think he could be deep, much less so deep as to come here in the pitch black (He knew the school like the back of his hand, it came with the job of Marauder) besides, who would find him here? James was glad it was his night with the map as he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower undetected. Maybe Lily had fallen asleep during studying in the Common Room again? No, it was only the first day of classes, nobody had received any homework yet. Besides, he probably creeped her out, writing her a note while she was asleep and then sneaking away from the Common Room in the dead of night.

But when he got back he was pleasantly surprised, there was Lily, unmistakeable even though her back was to James. She turned around at the sound of the Fat Lady's portrait swinging shut behind James. James was shocked to find the green eyes he loved so much were full of tears some overspilling and making there way down Lily's cheeks. She hastily her face with one hand.

'Lily?' James said, kneeling beside the fireplace, at the foot of the armchair in which Lily was sat. 'What's wrong, Lilyflower? Are you hurt? James said.

Lily saw the concern in his eyes and expression and smiled through her tears.

'No, no I'm fine'

'Evidently. Please Lils, tell me what's wrong?'

'I just received some.. Bad news today that's all' that's when James noticed an envelope and a piece of paper on the arm of Lily's chair, the paper was pristine, whiter than white with tiny and incredibly neat handwriting dead centre of the page.

'What? Has somebody died?' James said, Lily noticed he genuinely sound concerned, this made Lily cry harder, she had been horrible to him, and here he was nonetheless, acting like a... A gentleman!

James, even more confused when Lily starting crying even more, did the only thing he could think of, sprang up from where he was knelt and wrapped Lily up in his arms, making little 'shush shush' noises, like his nanny used to do for him when he had stubbed his toe as a child or broken his toy, tiny things now that had seemed like the end of the world when he was young.

'No, not as bad as that, James. Just something that upset me.'

James leaned out of the hug and looked into her eyes. 'Tell me what it is, Lils and I'll kill it.'

Lily chuckled and said 'My parents sent me an owl a couple of hours ago with a letter attached from my sister' Lily croaked out through her tears, her voice still sounding like a melody to James. 'She's getting married to a horrible, fat brute of a man, Vernon Dursley, and wants nothing more to do with me, I'm not even invited to the wedding!' Lily choked out before collapsing into James' shoulder in floods of new tears.

'Well Lils,' James began whilst rubbing soothing circles into Lily's back 'It seems to me, your sister and this Vernon Dunghead-'

'Dursley.' Lily interrupted with her laugh.

'What you said, they sound like they're not even worth one SECOND of your time, let alone however long their crummy wedding's going to be.'

'Thanks James.' Lily said whilst leaning away from his shoulder. 'I think I'm going to head up to bed now, thanks for everything James.'

'Sweet dreams Lilyflower'


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, another chapter! :D Whee.. What a great inspiration this bag of Minstrels has been.. I have a list of ideas for future chapters, so stay tuned! I have loads of free time because it's SUMMER! Has anone done something FANTASTIC for Summer? Or has someone done something so incredibly boring they HAVE to share it, I wanna hear about it! Review and tell me what you've been up to, what sort of books/fanfics you've been reading and what movies you've been watching? Personally I'm loving RemusxSirius fanfics squee x3 Tell me what you think of the story, or tell me what I need to improve on. I also want to start working on some oneshots, but I'm stumped for ideas, So if you want, you can review and tell me requests and ideas for future fics. :D Enjoy this chapter! Much love!**

**REVIEW PLEASUMS? **

**RAWR**

**Georgia xxx**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even a little character :(**

When James woke up he immediately put his glasses on and looked out of his window, today might be the day Lily goes to the tree! Maybe not, there was no sign of anyone on the grounds. Come to think of it, there was no sign of anyone in the Dormitory. James went downstairs. Nope, no-one was in the Common Room. That's when James remembered the Marauders map, he ran back upstairs and stuck a hand under his bed and rooted around, retrieving the map he withdrew his hand. What? This was strange. Where was everybody's little avatars? There wasn't a single one on the whole map. Panicking, James got up and ran outside into the grounds. The rain was falling heavily all him, but James couldn't care less, pajamas or not. What had happened to everyone? What about Lily? James heart wrenched, she must be so scared, at least she was with everyone.

Maybe this was Padfoot's idea of a joke? Yes, that was it, they were here somewhere, they were hiding from him. James ran through The Entrance Hall, head whipping from side to side. James ran to every place he could think of: The Owlery, Hagrid's hut, The Great Hall, through all the classrooms, out to the Whomping Willow and into the Shrieking Shack. On finding no-one, James sank to his knees on the Quidditch pitch. He was kneeling in a puddle and his wet hair was sticking to his forehead. He dropped his head into his hands. All his friends had gone, the girl he loved was gone, all his teachers had gone, even all his worst enemies had gone. He was completely alone in a desolate and deserted castle. James let his exhaustion overcome him, he hadn't stopped running since looking for the map, he fell from his knees to his side in the damp Quidditch pitch. Muttered 'All... gone...' to himself and collapsed.

Meanwhile, Remus Lupin, werewolf and most sensible Marauder woke up. He rubbed his eyes, yawned and looked across to his roomates' beds, Peter was showering, Sirius was still asleep (typical) and James was... Wait, where was James? Remus got up and walked up to the Bathroom door.

'Hey Pete?'

'Yeah Moony?'

'Where's James?'

'I dunno, he wasn't in bed when I woke up.'

'Don't you think it's a bit weird?'

'How come?'

'Well, usually he's still asleep long after both of us get up. The only one that sleeps longer than James is Sirius.'

'Well I don't know where he is then. Can we discuss this in a little while, I'm kind of in the shower.'

'Yeah, sure, sorry Pete.'

'No worries Moony. Hey, do you know where my moisturising body lotion is?'

'Uhh, no, I have no idea'

Little did Pete know, Moony thought, James and Sirius had discovered the moisturising body lotion, laughed so hard tears of mirth rolled down their cheeks then tipped the body lotion into Snape's cauldron in Potions until purple bubble rose from it and then it exploded in Snape's face. It was the first time in ages that Snape's hair had a proper wash.

After Pete, Remus and a very grouchy Sirius were dressed they headed into the Common Room. Curious, Remus thought, James wasn't here either.

Remus decided to ask around.

'Hey, Lily. Have you seen James?'

'Not since yesterday, no. Why?'

'Well, he's kind of gone missing.'

For a second Remus thought he saw a distraught look cross Lily's face, but it was gone as quickly as it arrived.

'You want help finding him?'

'Okay. Pete have you found the Map yet?' Asked Sirius.

'No, he must have it Moony.'

'Uh, What map?' Interjected Lily.

'Oh, umm, it's nothing Lils, don't worry' Sirius replied.

'We should split up, it'll cover more ground.'

'Good idea Lily' Remus said. 'But how will we contact each other if we find him?'

'Patronus?'

'Okay. Padfoot, You check the grounds. I'll check the Owlery. Pete you're Classrooms and Lily you go check in The Entrance Hall and The Great Hall. If we don't find him in two hours, we'll go check Hogsmeade.'

'Okay, Let's go.'

Peter Pettigrew headed downstairs from the Common Room and walked classroom to classroom calling out James' name. Meanwhile, Lily was scanning the empty Great Hall for a sign of James, after having no luck in The Entrance Hall when all of a sudden, a dog Patronus came lolloping into the Hall before pausing in front of Lily.

All of a sudden, Sirius's voice rang out through the deserted hall. 'Guys, I've found him but he doesn't look good. You might want to come here as soon as you can.'

Lily broke into a run and followed to Patronus out into the Courtyard where she met with Peter and they ran down to the Quidditch Pitch together.

'Guys, thank God you're here. He's been lying here in the rain ran for hours in his pajamas, I think he's asleep but he might've passed out.' Sirius said in a distraught voice with an unconcious James on his back. 'He was saying ''all gone'' over and over again and he only stopped when I sent out the Patronus. I think he's badly sick.'

'Sirius can you carry him to the Hospital Wing?' Moony asked, frowning.

'Yeah. I'll stay with him until he wakes up.'

'I will too' Lily said. 'But no-one else should, you know what Madam Pomfrey's like.'

'She's got a point.' Moony said before Peter could protest.

Two days later and James was still in the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey said he had been lying out in the rain for too long and had developed a bad cold and a fever and that she couldn't give him any potions until he woke up.

Sirius had just left the Hospital Wing to have some food, he hadn't eaten since dinner yesterday and Lily had ordered him out, reassuring him that she'd alert him immediately if James woke up. Suddenly, about ten seconds after Sirius had left, James shot up and took in his surroundings with blurry vision. Who had taken his glasses? James found them on the bedside table and put them on, he then saw Lily and gasped. Lily's eyes snapped up.

'Are.. Are you really here this time?' James croaked out, his voice hoarse from his two days of silence. Tears formed in Lily's eyes and James reached out to cup her face in his hand. 'Please don't cry Lils, or I'll cry and no-one wants to see THAT.' He whispered. Lily put his hand on James's before he lunged forward to wrap his arms around Lily.

'I was so scared Lily, it seemed so real. I thought everyone was gone, I thought YOU were gone. It was devastating.' James sobbed into her shoulder.

'Don't worry James, it was just a dream.' Lily soothed, rubbing circles into his clammy back, noticing the irony of it all. James had done the same for her not a month previous to this. Lily decided that she would wait until James's tears had subsided before she got Sirius and the others, she didn't want them to ridicule James when he was already so upset and confused.

'So what happened James?'

'I think It was a dream, I woke up and everyone was gone. So I ran everywhere half asleep without stopping for breath and then collapsed on the Quidditch Pitch.' That's when Lily hugged him again, James was taken aback but also delighted, Lily was hugging him. He squeezed tighter, not wanting the moment to end.

Lily pulled out of the hug, much to James's dismay. 'I have to tell the others you're awake! And Madam Pomfrey needs to give you a couple of potions..' Lily said, ignoring James's revolted 'Bleh potions..'

Lily then casted a patronus to alert the other Marauders, James was curious to see what shape it formed. The silvery light took a shape, it quickly grew four legs and a delicate little head. James wondered if it would become a stag, such as his own, but no, it became a doe. James was speechless. His happiness took over him and he sprang up from the bed. Lily whirled around.

'James, get back into bad. I'm trying to cast a patronus, this is my first time.'

The doe nudged James's hand with it's elegant head and James stroked it, his hand went right through, the Patronus shimmered and retook it's shape.

'It's beautiful Lily, a doe, our Patronuses match.' James said before muttering 'Expecto Patronum' as Lily began gently leading him back to his hospital wing bed. Suddenly a noble stag erose from James's wand and made it's way towards Lily's Patronus. They touched noises before the doe ran off with Lily's message to find Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot, James's Patronus quickly followed suit.

Lily was amazed, a doe! Her and James were soulmates! She smiled, soulmates...

'Prongs! You're ALIVEE!'

'Heh, hey there Pads.'

'Did Lily tell you who found you?' Padfoot smirked, tweaking his tie.

'Yes, Moony wasn't it?' James said, trying to hide his smile.

'It was my pleasure James, I'm just glad I could be the one to find you and, potentially, save your life.'

'I'm eternally grateful Moon-Butt.' James bowed. Remus chuckled at the nickname.

'HEY! **I** FOUND YOU! **I** SAVED YOU! **I** WAS THE ONE THAT CARRIED YOU ALL THE WAY TO THE HOSPITAL WING!' Sirius screamed at the pair. The noise causing Madam Pomfrey to come bustling into the room.

'Ah, Potter. You're awake. Time for your potions.'

'-And now we're even..' Sirius continued to James. He was greeted with a look that would frighten Dementors.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter eight! I'm currently lying in bed writing this and listening to 30 Seconds to Mars's cover of Bad Romance, which is really good, you should check it out. :)**

**I was really shocked to find I have 18 reviews! Thank you guys so much, all my friends who've reviewed and given me constructive criticism and in Rebecca's case some very -ahem- helpful advice, which I will ignore, until I start writing down my oneshot ideas ;) but she gets a special thanks for being my first reviewer. Julia makes a great betareader so thanks :D and thanks to loving-arizona, TheHollyWand and LunaBeth203. Also cissyb, who definitely left the most reviews and smiley faces. :) I'm not going to thank Adam though because this is a competition. :P**

**Please enjoy, R and R, you know what to do, just hit that cute little button at the bottom of the page and talk to meehhh!**

**RAWR**

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**Disclaimer: Clearly I am JK Rowling and am the genius behind Harry Potter. Feel free to gather round and worship me. Only joking, I don't own a thing, except the shoes on my back. B)**

'LILY!'

'I see you've made a speedy recovery James.' Lily said, not taking her eyes off the page.

'You're at the tree!'

'Yeah, I haven't been here for a while and I wanted some peace, which you just ruined, thanks.'

'I was just happy Lils!' James grinned.

'Well go be happy somewhere else.'

'Aww but Lils..' James whined 'I already walked all the way over here on a saturday morning to bring you something fantastic we can do together.'

'Alright, I'll bite, what have you brought?'

'Promise you won't shout at me again?'

'I didn't-' Lily saw James's eyebrow raise a significate height. 'Fine, I won't shout at you.'

'I brought BROOMS. I'm gonna teach you how to FLY!'

'JAMES!'

'Ahem, you promised not to shout.'

'James, you know I can't fly.'

'No Lils, you couldn't fly when we took those lessons with Madam Hooch, and that was in FIRST YEAR. I can only assume you're skills have significately improved. And don't even TRY to convince me you're afraid of heights, because I know that to be false.' James said.

Wow, Lily thought to herself, James can be quite forceful at times, I'll just humour him, he can be the one to explain to Madam Hooch when I accidentally drive the broom seven feet underground. I. Can't. Fly.

'C'mon Lils, no-one will steal your book while we're gone.'

'You don't know that for definite-' lily started, only to realise her argument was futile as James was already marching her towards the empty quidditch pitch.

After half an hour of flying, Lily managed to get the hang of staying on the broom, only to find herself sat in one of the Keeper's post rings.

'Aah, Lils. Aiming to be a Keeper, I see.'

'No, I'm just stuck.'

'You're not stuck, your broom's right there.' James rolled his eyes but couldn't help smiling at the fiery redhead's stubborn ways.

'I'm pretty sure I'm stuck.'

'Well, while you're up there, you should try keeping.'

'I can't, you're Chaser on the House Team, James and I can barely catch a ball.'

'You're a natural flyer, Lily. You just need to defend that one ring instead of all three. I'll use this and you'll have to try and catch it to reclaim it.' James said with a smirk, pulling something out from behind his back, it was Lily's battered copy of Hogwarts: A History, worn from years of reading and re-reading.

'Hey! Give that back! I need that!'

'You know the rule, Lils: if you want it back, you have to catch it.' James said with a childish grin on his face.

Lily grumbled to herself. 'Stupid Potter and his stupid pretty smile..'

'What was that Lils? I didn't quite catch that.' James called up at her.

'I said up yours! Just toss me the freaking book.' Lily growled. James, unphased by the words of the redhead he knew was joking, began to fly towards the Gryffindor hoop where Lily was perched. He tossed the book in the air, span round and hit it lightly towards Lily with the tail of his broom. Lily caught it and tossed it back.

'Let's keep going!' She called. 'This is fun!'

So for another hour they played catch with the book, Lily gradually starting to defend all three hoops from the book and James beginning to use more elaborate moves to get past Lily and her new found passion for the role of keeper.

James feinted to the right in an attempt to fool the girl but she looked right through the scheme and retaliated by throwing the book as high as she possibly could so James would have to wait for it to tumble back to the ground in order to locate it and retrieve it. Lily's book was considerably more battered than it's previous condition prior to their little Quidditch game of sorts, but for once in her life, Lily didn't care about the book, she was enjoying herself too much. With the wind whipping in her hair and just watching James playing Chaser, in his essence, it was fascinating to watch the way James was so at ease, there was something in the way he played Quidditch that made Lily want to stop and observe his every move.

Lily was snapped out of her reverie by the book suddenly colliding with her shoulder, Lily immediately lost her balance in the ring, her borrowed broom toppling to the ground. As Lily began to fall backwards, James snapped into action in an instant, flying over to where Lily was and scooping her up in his arms infront of him on the broom. He pulled to a stop and looked at Lily, who looked terrified for a second before a relieved look crossed the face James was so familiar with. He let out a sigh of relief.

'I'm so sorry Lily, I thought you were ready.'

'No, I'm sorry James, I was distracted, I lost focus.'

'That's okay. Want to stop now?

'Can we stay up here? I like flying, the view of Hogwarts is truly magnificent.'

'Sure Lils.' Anything for you.. James thoughts continued silently. 'So what distracted you, you seemed really focused.'

'Well, you did James. I was watching you play, you looked really happy and in control of everything, Quidditch is definitely your area of expertise.'

'Well, at least SOMETHING is, I fail in every thing else I try to achieve.' James grinned, lazily.

'What are you talking about? You get amazing marks-'

'I'm not talking about schoolwork, Lils.'

'Well then what ARE you-' Lily began before she was interrupted by James's lips suddenly capturing her own. Lily's eyes widened before they drifted shut of their own accord. James leaned back and looked at Lily worriedly.

'Sorry, Lils, I know there's that guy you like. I won't do that again I promise.' James said looking dejectedly down at his lap.

'James-'

'Oh, sorry Lils, I'll land us now-'

'No. I wanna stay up here with you James, you were that guy all along.'

'But, I thought you hated me?'

'James, you're a completely immature, insane and arrogant toerag most of the time, and you should stop cursing Slytherin's just because they were sorted into that house. You should just ignore Sniv- Serverus completely and you should probably invest in a comb.' James chuckled. 'But I don't care.' Lily continued. 'Over these past weeks you've been kind and sweet and considerate. You've taken me flying-' Lily gestered around the pitch. 'You comforted me when I received that letter from Tuney- Petunia I mean and you're actually a great person, but I didn't see that. You're brave and smart and you treasure your friends and you have this sense of adventure and this streak of recklessness that all the girls adore.'

'I don't care about the other girls Lily, only you, it's always been you.' James leaned forward and captured Lily's lips once more, pulling her into his chest and wrapping his cloak around her bare arms to warm her against the winds that went unnoticed whilst they were playing Quidditch. Lily raised her arms to wrap them around James's neck and he, in turn, wrapped his arms around Lily's waist as they sat and kissed, motionless on a broom high above the Quidditch Pitch now.

Everyone in the Common Room gathered round Lily and James when they strolled in that evening hand in hand. Lily answered the crowd's queries of 'How did this happen?' 'What did he say?' But James only had eyes for Lily. Lily caught his gaze and beamed at him, James's breath caught in his throat, Lily had never smiled at him like that before.

Later that night, James was lying on his four poster in the middle of the row of boy's beds he shared the dorm with. Soon enough all his roomies entered (Minus Frank Longbottom who was out with a Hufflepuff girl James only knew to be called Alice.) The Marauders gathered round on Sirius's bedwhich was next to James's. Sirius cheered.

'It worked! Jim got his Lay-dee!' Sirius said in a sing-song voice before grabbing a frightened looking Wormtail and spinning him around the room.

'Calm down Padfoot, I'll tell you everything.' James began. And he did, everything. Who wouldn't? These guys were his best friends, fellow Marauders and Animagi.

At an obscenely early hour in the morning, James was lying awake, staring at the swooping canvas above his head. Said head too full of thoughts of Lily to even begin to comprehend how to sleep. James felt like dancing, Lily was finally his, HIS. This was the best day of James's life so far.

James gave a contented sigh and rolled over, wondering what he might do with Lily later that day, a sunday, off school as it was the weekend. He decided whatever they would do would involve him needing sleep, so he closed his eyes and drifted, only to be woken three hours later by crumpled pieces of paper colliding with his head.

'Prong-head! I've been calling your name for half an hour, wake up!'

'Pads, it's seven o'clock in the bloody morning, what do you want?'

'I had an idea for pranking Snivellus!'

James shot up in bed. 'What is it?'

'We should paint his dorm red and gold and his bedspread and everything!'

Padfoot was giddy with excitement. James looked over at Moony. 'How long has he been up?'

'About six hours, I don't think he slept, he's been in the common room since about two, giggling in a corner.'

'Do you think there's something wrong with him?'

'I think he just drank too much firewhisky yesterday when we broke into Madam Rosmerta's store room.'

'You broke into Madam Rosmerta's store room without me?' James cried with a hurt look across his face.

'You were with Lily.'

'Oh yeah...' James trailed off with a dreamy look.

'Lily should help us!' Cried Padfoot from where he was lying on the stairs.

'Great idea, everyone under the invisibility cloak. Moony would you cast an invisibility charm on our feet?'

'Sure. Padfoot, do something useful and see if Lily's in the Common Room.'

Padfoot peeked round the corner to the Common Room.

'Sirius!' A group of girls cried when they saw his face appear. Padfoot retreated.

'Yeah, she's there. Let's go.'

'Lily?' A voice muttered right next to her ear, she hastily looked round and on finding no-one, looked back at her book.

'Lils, it's James.'

'And Sirius'

'And Remus, sorry about this Lils'

'And Peter!'

'Urmm, hi guys, what are you doing?'

'Pranking!' Peter replied.

'We wanted you to come along Lils.' James explained.

'Urmm okay..' Lily said. 'Where are you guys?'

We're under the cloak. Just meet us outside the Common Room.'

Lily did as she was told and James's face suddenly appeared with his trademark smirk on his face, this time with no hint of malice whatsoever.

'Come under here he said, lifting an edge of the cloak.'

'But there's five of us, how does that work?'

'Invisibility charm of Moony's on our legs.'

'Ooh. What are we doing then?' Lily said curiosity evident in her tone of voice, which made James smile.

'Breaking into Snivellus's dorm.' Said Peter.

'There's gonna be prefects outside. And do you even know the password?'

'It's always something like 'purebloods are the best' or 'muggles are scum.' Sirius said sneering.

'Nice.' James said sarcastically.

They came up to the entrance to the dungeons and sure enough there was a Slytherin prefect there.

'I got this.' Sirius said getting out his wand. 'Incendio.'

'Protego' James said quickly.

'Sirius! You almost set the bloody prefect on fire.' Lily had to stop herself from screaming, resorting to muttering sternly at Sirius. James was doubled over in laughter.

'Sorry Lils, I didn't think.'

'You're going to Azkaban one day for murder Black, I'll eat my wand if you prove me wrong.'

'You've got a deal, Lils.' Padfoot grinned and shook her hand before they went into the Slytherin Common Room and Dormitories, wreaking havoc whilst hidden from sight.

And that's how Lily Evans, new girlfriend of James Potter, became an official Marauder. Lily only agreed if she wasn't involved in any detentions and they only cursed Snivellus, it was his own fault for betraying her trust and calling her a mublood.


End file.
